99 CHAP. XIII. PERSONAL LIBERTY. Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks; methinks I see her as an eagle during her mighty youth, and kindling her undazzled eyes at the full midday beam; purging and unsealing her long-abused sight at the fountain itself of heavenly radiance; while the whole noise of timorous and flocking birds, with those also that love the twilight, flutter about, amazed at what she means, and in their envious gabble would prognosticate a year of sects and schisms. MILTON, NEXT to civil liberty, in the order I have laid down, comes personal liberty. By personal liberty, I mean the freedom from restraint upon actions which are not criminal in themselves. The chief liberties of this class are the freedom of speaking and writing, and freedom of conscience in matters of religion. The absence of all exclusive personal privileges, such as signorial rights, exemption from taxes, monopoly of civil and military offices, must be reckoned also in this class; for that which is a privilege to one man is a restraint upon another. The liberty of speaking and writing was allowed in ancient times, not only in free states, but wherever despotism fell into the hands of a mild sovereign; and so palling to the ear is the continual montony of praise, that in the absolute kingdom of Persia, where the sovereign is thought to be the very image of the Divinity, a jester was always kept, whose business it was to tell the truth, and yet to tell it in such a way that the King might, if he pleased, laugh at the fable, and neglect the moral. The fool of modern kings is a creature invented for the same purpose. Such were the devices which sovereigns adopted for the sake of hearing a little free observation, at a time when nations were divided into the court and the country. The court never spoke of the king's actions but to praise them, and the country never spoke to them at all. Such was still the state of Europe when Machiavel wrote The Prince, and he takes it for granted, in that much debated work, that the mass of the people can be kept wholly ignorant of the real character of their sovereign. The progress of knowledge has overturned the basis of his whole system, and were Machiavel to write at this day, he would probably recommend to kings a totally different line of conduct. a. The policy pursued by the governments of Europe, in later times, has been extremely various. Austria and Spain have assumed as a principle that, as general freedom of discussion must produce much calumny on private persons, much seditious writing against the state, and much matter offensive to morality and religion, it is prudent to the country, and humane to the writers, to place the press under the guardianship of censors appointed by the government. By this method, it is asserted, all fair and temperate discussion may be allowed; libels are stifled in the egg, before they have worked mischief; and public justice is spared the necessity of inflicting severe punishment. The government of France, without sanctioning so strict a system of ignorance as that of Spain, refused to allow publication without restraint. But the mitigated prohibitions of the French censors, in some degree contributed to spread the false no tions which obtained vogue at the beginning of their revolution. Every thing might be attacked by an equivocal jest, although nothing could be combated by direct reasoning; and the able writers of the last century soon found that the best institutions were as open to a sneer as the grossest abuses. General declamation, and affected sentiment were allowed, till the opinions of men fell into general confusion. At length the throne was shaken, the altar sapped, and the mine ready to burst under their foundations, before any one had had a fair opportunity of urging an argument in their behalf. The policy of England has been, since the Revolution, completely the reverse both of the Spanish and the French. During the reign of Elizabeth, as we have seen, the most severe punishments were awarded to libellers. ing the reign of James, and the early part of Charles I. a censorship was established by means of a licence act. Cromwell adopted the same policy, which was continued by Charles and James. The licence act of the latter expired in 1694, and has never been renewed. The constitution of England thus deliberately, Dur not in the heat of the revolution itself, but without clamour, without affectation, without fear, and at once, adopted a free press. The principle then sanctioned is, that, as speaking and writing, and printing, are things of themselves indifferent, every person may do as he pleases, till by writing what is calumnious or seditious, he offends the laws. That a great advantage is afforded to personal liberty by the permission of a free press, is what no man can doubt. Reflection may convince us that this liberty is also beneficial to the community at large. Genius can never exert its powers to their full extent, when its flight is limited and its direction prescribed. Truth can never be got at, when all discussion is regulated by those who hold the reins of government, to whom the discovery of truth is not always acceptable. Neither is it true, as some people imagine, that no government can withstand the daily attacks of the press. Men know when they are prosperous, and although they love to grumble at all that is going on, no quantity of rhetoric will persuade a nation that is in possession of |